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• Support the development of new generation capacity through clean energy auctions
resulting in long-term and mid-term agreements (“clean energy” includes renewable
energy, nuclear and efficient cogeneration)

• Increase the involvement of off-takers in
supporting clean energy projects, through
the imposition of clean energy requirements
reflected in a number of clean energy certificates that suppliers and off-takers will be
required to obtain on an annual basis.

The Mexican government has accomplishedmuch in a relatively short time by issuing manyof the necessary rules to implement these incen-tives, but there is still much work to do andother pieces to fit into the puzzle. Gas avail-ability, low prices and the promotion of the oiland gas industry (also recently opened to pri-vate investment) are prompting the developmentof large gas pipelines across the country. Thiscould make it harder for renewable energiesto compete, particularly against gas-fired gen-eration. Moreover, the steel industry and otherlarge power consumers have openly shown theirreluctance to pay higher energy costs associatedwith clean energy (whether in the form of certif-icates or otherwise). They argue that the incen-tives to promote clean energy should not be atthe expense of the industrial sector, which isalready struggling to overcome financial diffi-culties caused from the slowdown in global eco-nomic growth. In fact, the pressure exerted byindustrials resulted in changes to the recentlyenacted Energy Transition Law, which includessaving provisions that somewhat ease the cleanenergy requirements that the Mexican govern-ment had originally contemplated. In addition,the role of CFE—the vertically integrated nation-al utility company—as a competitor with unpar-alleled market power at the time, is still an unre-solved question.

Clearly, the pieces in Mexico’s green energy puzzle are still moving, and some of them
are even missing, so the final picture is yet to be
seen. But the pieces will eventually come together, and many players seem to be betting on that
(69 bidders submitted 227 sale offers in Mexico’s
first clean energy auction this year, and developers are already preparing for a second auction scheduled for the end of this year). There is
no doubt about Mexico’s huge renewable energy potential, which, supported by the country’s
macroeconomic and political stability, continues
to attract domestic and foreign investors. Many
of those investors believe this is precisely the
moment to position themselves and actively participate in pushing the pieces to define the new
face of Mexico’s renewable energy industry. ◑